About this lot
Description
A View of Spaarenhout, near Haarlem signed lower right 'I. Moucheron. fecit.' oil on canvas 49 x 56.6cm
Footnote: The composition exists in four currently known works on paper by Moucheron (see Nina Wedde, Isaac de Moucheron (1667-1744): His Life and Works with a Catalogue Raisonné of his Drawings, Watercolours, Paintings and Etchings, Peter Lang: Frankfurt am Main, 1996, pp. 339-340, W14-15). Two are watercolours (see Wedde, W14-15, with W14 being dated 1713 and W15 dated 1741) and two uncoloured pencil only compositions, one of which is without any figures or vessels, in the Noord-Hollands Archief at Haarlem, which have been dated to circa 1720. In the latter drawing and the 1741 watercolour (sold Sotheby's, 4th July 2012, lot 136) the sails of the vessel hidden by the promontory on the left, exists in both. In Wedde, W14, where the work is dated 1713, the balustrade of the house is surmounted with sculpted vases/urns [these are also to be seen in the second pencil only composition in the Noord-Hollands Archief at Haarlem, which must therefore date to around the same time]. As those vases are no longer to be seen in either the 1741 watercolour (Wedde, W15) or in one of the uncoloured drawings that have been dated to circa 1720, the present painting must postdate 1713. As however the line of trees on the waterfront between the house and the belvedere are rather higher than in the 1741 watercolour, it is more probable that the painting is from around that date and the fashion of the clothes worn by the two figures on the right promontory would seem to confirm that dating. According to Wedde, Spaarenhout was lived in by the Dutch poet Lucas Schermer (1688-1711) and the drawings of it by Isaac Moucheron were probably commissioned by Cornelis Bouman (1703-1744) a collector and amateur draughtsman, in whose posthumous Amsterdam sale at de Leth of the 18th of August 1744, two were included as lot 20. It is possible that he owned too the present painting which was apparently unknown to Wedde.
Condition report: Oil on canvas. The edges of the canvas have been reinforced at the reverse with a modern fabric, visible in the tear at the upper right corner. The picture is in plane and the canvas tension is good. The paint layer has a prominent network of age cracks, some of which are slightly raised but stable overall. There are localised areas of retouching across the surface, reasonably well matched to the original. The varnish is dull but even and clear.
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